With the gracious approval from the staff for the re-introduction of the Kingdom of Nibo, I thought of commemorating the event by introducing a new line of their locally manufactured heavy tank. Dare you vote for it???

Overview:

The very first Behemolisher heavy tanks saw real live battles on Nibo itself in 3078. The ludicrously low speed had mattered little as invading Quickcell funded mercenaries found themselves fighting among the close confines of of Nibo City after advancing through open terrain, where speed counted for little.

The original Mk I and II Behemolishers were both armed for a pair of heavy hitting Gauss rifles, while the former had missile launchers, medium lasers and machines guns as secondary weapons while a single 20-class LBX autocannon on the latter saw many an opponent essentially jumped from the frying pan into the fire after weathering the initial GR barrage onto to come into range of the murderous AC.

After 2 decades of technological exchange with the Inner Sphere and continuous appearance of newer and arguably better weapons onto the battlefields, Nibo has revealed the latest generation of the machines that had garnered equal measures of scorn and praise to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the current King's reign.

Capabilities:

The Mk III retains the trade duo heavy guns on the earlier Behemolishers, but went on a different direction. Powered by a Fuel Cell Engine that save space but not an increase in speed, the designers from Nibo University reasoned that the Mk III would be operating mostly in heavy built-up and close terrain, negating the long range advantage that the gauss rifles had. Instead, the reworked turret of the Mk III houses a pair of long tom cannon. While of shorter range compared to the gauss rifles, the snub-nosed version of the artillery piece can be used for close range indirect fire - a capability that can easily be provided by infantry, Battle Armour and other vehicles. However, the sheer size of the long toms shells resulted in the feed mechanism being poorly armoured despite numerous redesigns. (Exposed Weapon Linkage, Long Tom Cannon Quirk)

To provide further flexibility to the design, four MML-3 launchers supplied with a 2 ton ammo bin allows the use of specialty ammunition based on tactical requirements. A bank of vehicular grenade launchers provides a one shot but welcome option of firing fragmentation grenades to shower the target area in deadly shrapnel, smoke grenades for creating concealment, incendiary grenades for setting fires, or chaff grenades which release a cloud of electromagnetic dust and high-intensity flares to confuse sensors. To further enhance the Mk III's ability to fight in close quarters, a ECM suite provides electronics protection. Despite not being equipped with a sensor probe, the highly advanced next generation of NHI Communique Sys utilized on the Vampire OmniTank meant that the Mk III comes equipped with an advanced sensor suite (Improved Sensors Quirk) that allows it to detect hidden enemy units.

While still being protected by CASE, the Mk III lost out to its predecessors in armour protection. 13 tons of heavy ferro-fibrous armour isn't something to sneeze at, but could only reach 70% of the protection that standard armour plating offered on the Mk I.

Deployment:

The first production run of Behemolisher Mk III went to the rebuilding Nibo Armed Forces. None had seen any real action, though field trials and live firing exercises saw both the good and bad of the machines. A single lance of Behemolisher Mk III could easily cripple an equal number of enemy units - 'Mechs, tanks or otherwise. However, a single hit from enemy had seen one of the Mk III being rendered toothless as the medium laser had cut through the ammunition feed link.

It is rumoured that the Capellans are once again looking to licence manufacture the new line of Behemolisher tanks, much like the original versions, to supplement her Milita units.

Variants:

Alongside the Mk III, a new Mk IV has been paraded out during the King's 20th anniversary celebrations.

I'm currently working on the other variant, the Mk IV. Its (marginally) faster but less armoured, equipped with a different pair of big guns, still has MML, comes with MagShot GRs, ECM & VGL. Oh, and its cheaper than the Mark III to boot.

I'm actually stuck at the fluff and what quirks to give it. I would like to inject humour into it, something that I try to do with everything associated to Nibo, but I'm out of funny juice at the moment.

Mariahsyn wrote:I'd purchase these if a variant was made that suited my requirements. Namely, I am not a huge fan of so many MMLs. Also, no anti-infantry weapons make me sad. Any way to do such a variant?